Men's Basketball Falls At Monmouth, 72-60

Jan 03, 2010

WEST LONG
BRANCH, N.J. - Dave Johnson (Jackson, N.J.) and James Johnson
(Queens, N.Y.) led the Bobcats with 14 points each, but the
Quinnipiac University men's basketball team fell to Monmouth,
72-60, Saturday night at the Multipurpose Activities Center. The 14
points represent a new career high for Dave Johnson. With the loss,
the Bobcats fall to 6-6 (1-1 NEC), while the Hawks improve to 5-9
(1-1 NEC).

James Feldeine (New York, N.Y.) added 12 points for the Bobcats,
leaving him just six points shy of 1,000 for his career. Jeremy
Baker (Washington, D.C.) also added seven points and a game-high
nine rebounds for the Bobcats, who outrebounded their 12th
consecutive opponent with a 41-33 advantage for the game.

Ed Waite scored a game-high 17 points for the Hawks. Whitney
Coleman was close behind with 16, including three of his four
three-pointers in the second half. Travis Taylor and Will Campbell
each added 14 points for the Hawks.

The Bobcats committed a season-high 23 turnovers, which the Hawks
turned into a 28-12 advantage in points off turnovers.

"Overall, I'm really disappointed with our effort tonight," said
Quinnipiac Head Coach Tom Moore. I thought we played as poorly
offensively as we could possibly play. The 23 turnovers will attest
to that. I thought we gave it a game effort on the defensive end
for about 30 minutes and then succumbed to really bad offense. I
thought it got the better of us. We consistently came down, made
bad passes, fumbled good passes, we weren't ready to take advantage
of some of the gaps in the matchup zone, missed free throws -
however you could find a way to take steam out of our momentum on
the offensive end, we found a way to do and it affected us on the
defensive end."

The Bobcats immediately jumped out to a 5-0 lead as James Johnson
connected on back-to-back shots, the second coming from long range.
The Hawks responded with a 12-2 run to take a five-point lead of
their own, 12-7, at the 13:50 mark. The Monmouth lead swelled to as
many as seven, 21-14, on Justin Sofman's three-pointer at the 7:46
mark.

Quinnipiac then used an 8-0 run, capped by Dave Johnson's
three-pointer at the 4:13 mark to take a one-point lead. The lead
reached three points twice before Monmouth ended the half on a 7-0
run, capped by Coleman's three-pointer with two seconds left in the
first half to give the Hawks a 31-27 lead at halftime.

James Johnson led the Bobcats with nine first-half points while
Waite matched Johnson with nine points of his own.

After falling behind by six early in the second half, the Bobcats
went on a 10-1 run to take a three-point lead. The Hawks fought
back with a Sofman free throw and a Campbell fast-break layup to
tie it at 41-41. James Hett's three-pointer put the Hawks on top
44-41, but a Jamee Jackson (Newark, N.J.) free throw and Feldeine
fast-break lay-up again tied the score, 44-44, at the 12:31 mark.
But Campbell's three-pointer at the 11:53 mark put the Hawks on top
for good. The Hawks later went on a 10-0 run to create separation
and the Bobcats never got back to within fewer than eight points.
The Monmouth lead swelled to 14 points in the final seconds.

For the game, Monmouth outshot the Bobcats, 46.3 percent (25-54) to
40.0 percent (22-55) from the floor and 63.6 percent (14-22) to
54.5 percent (12-22) from the free-throw line. Both teams shot 36.4
percent from long range, with the Hawks making 8-of-22 to the
Bobcats' 4-11.

The Bobcats return to Northeast Conference action Jan. 7, when they
play host to preseason NEC favorite Mount St. Mary's. Opening tip
of the second game of a men's and women's basketball doubleheader
from the TD Bank Sports Center is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.